The 1992-1993 season marked the beginning of play for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators franchises. October 7th, 2012 will be the 20th anniversary of the Lightning's first game, played at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall, against the Chicago Blackhawks.

But one of the questions that has lingered with some fans this season is - where's the hoopla about the team anniversary? After all, the Ottawa Senators have been marking their anniversary since the get-go of the 2011-12 NHL season. In recent years, the Montreal Canadiens marked their 100th anniversary over a three-year span with different homages to the past, hosting marquee NHL events, and basically milking the history to the bone. You'd have expected the Lightning to get in on this too, commemorating the team for the sake of nostalgia (and marketing).

That seems to be in the cards.

According to a TBO.com story this morning, on December 31st, 2011, the Lightning will start its anniversary celebration by unveiling a life-size bust of franchise founder, former general manager and president, current radio personality, NHL legend and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Phil Esposito.

On Dec. 31, an hour before the 5 p.m. start of the Lightning's home game against Carolina, the club is inviting fans to witness the unveiling of a sculpture in Esposito's likeness that will be situated on the plaza outside the [Tampa Bay Times] Forum.

[...]

The life-sized sculpture, created by local artist Steven Dickey, portrays Esposito in a jacket and Lightning tie, grasping a hockey stick. Esposito brandishes a Lightning Stanley Cup ring on the finger of one hand and a ring from Boston's 1969-1970 Stanley Cup champions on the other hand.

Appropriate. Phil is the place to start with the Lightning, because he was the start of the Lightning. Without Esposito's vision, desire, and influence, there would be no hockey team representing Tampa Bay. There never would have been a domed baseball stadium re-named "Thunderdome" playing host to hockey in St. Petersburg. There would never have been an arena on the banks of the Garrison Channel in downtown Tampa, either.

There will also be an in-game ceremony honoring Phil and his partners, Mel Lowell and Henry Paul, who helped found the franchise. The Lightning will be squaring off against the Carolina Hurricanes that evening. You can get game tickets by clicking here.

In November, the Tampa Bay Lightning hosted "Girls Play Hockey" day at the St. Pete Times Forum. Tuesday night, it was the more mature ladies' turn to explore the home of the Lightning and the game they play.

The team has been hosting "Hockey N Heels" for over ten years now, and it's believed to be a one-of-a-kind program in the NHL.

"The Flyers tried something similar, but it was just women sitting in the bleachers while people from the team talked at them. This is much more interactive and a lot more fun." - Bobby 'The Chief' Taylor

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After having pimped the SB Nation IPhone App a few times (and teased that the Android version is forthcoming.  Before the holidays), this time I get to announce another smartphone application Bolts fans will take interest in, that will be available on Android, iOS (iPhone) and Blackberry systems.

That application is an official smartphone app from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The application, which launched Tuesday and is by YinzCam, Inc, is still in the beta stage.  It's available at this time on the Android Market.  The iOS and Blackberry versions will be launched at a later date.

The application, from my own once-over of the app: The design is sharp. Statistics are kept fresh, and a Gametracker is included in the Appl.  Most of the other options are what you would find on the team web page, but this friendlier than the mobile version of the Lightning web site.  

If you're attending tonight's game, you might want to take a test drive to see just how well it follows the statistics during play.

[Note by John Fontana, 11/05/11 12:12 PM EDT ] VP of Brand Management Lynn Wittenburg told us via Twitter that the iPhone and Blackberry versions of the application are "to come next week". We'll update you when these apps are released to the public.

The official press release from the team is below the jump.

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Thursday was a publicized, off-ice event day for the Tampa Bay Lightning. One surrounded by music, as "Be The Thunder" was being recording the team by way of composer Gregory Smith and the Florida Orchestra at the Springs Theatre studio in Tampa.

Guy Boucher took a turn as conductor during the session, Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis took turns on percussion. The whole event was filmed and chronicled through photographs posted on the Lightning's Twitter feed.

And yet, seeing Guy take his turn at the podium (he wasn't really conducting), the Beatles fan in me couldn't help but recollect Paul McCartney overseeing an assembled orchestra group during a recording / party for the band's 1967 song, "A Day In The Life".

Of course, "Be the Thunder" can't be confused with the avant-garde pop masterpiece that closed the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. That's a mix of pop with chaotic orchestral crescendos mixed in. "Be The Thunder" is a broad, sweeping, classy instrumental piece that's of quite a contrast to the overplayed metal that's the norm for hockey themes.

Will it work? I can't tell you that, specifically because it's so different from the music that's often associated with hockey games at this day and age.

You can listen to "Be The Thunder" on TampaBay.com

There's a song that can always be associated with a time or a place for people. Sound can help us recollect, especially when we are moved in one way or another by what we hear. And, of course, music and sports can bring back the thrill of victory, or the heartache of a loss... That, or simply foster a musical association between a sport and a sound.

With all that said, it was reported today that the Tampa Bay Lightning are having a custom introduction piece of music recorded this week. The session musicians for this piece? The Florida Orchestra. Said CEO Tod Leiweke:

"We wanted some music that was emotional and stirring, something that excited the fans. This piece and the video that accompanies it will be about the beauty inherent in the bay area and the energy and power and speed of hockey, and it will lead to the player introductions. We think it's going to be cool."

Emotional, stirring, excitement, power... Great, good, I'm all for it. But can it be catchy?

Yes, I do mean catchy. It's a little tougher to achieve with a full orchestra... But that brings us back to the music-by-way-of-association that I talked about above. I think everyone can tie music - either pop music or team/station-commissioned theme music - into a team, or a certain time or place with a team.

The piece was composed by Gregory Smith, and is due to be recorded at Springs Theatre on Thursday.

Yesterday, the Lightning announced their 2011-2012 regular season marketing theme that asks the fans to "Be the Thunder."  Inspired by last season's rowdy playoff crowds, the campaign seems to place emphasis not only on crowd participation and volume, but also on the connection the team has to its fans; using the obvious meteorological reference to bridge that connection. 

The official team press release and some thoughts after the fold.

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When Lightning fans get their first glimpse inside the newly renovated St. Pete Times Forum, there are liable to be a lot of strained necks as they look all around their brand new old home. One area that will remain unchanged is an empty area in the rafters that would be just ideal for the hanging of banners with retired players numbers on them.

As the Lightning steam towards their 20th anniversary next season, team highlights and individual accomplishments will get a lot of attention. And now that some of our long-time favorites are closer to the end of their careers than the beginning, it's not too early to speculate which Lightning players might eventually receive that ultimate individual recognistion from their team, the retirement of their number.

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It would seem the Lightning are not going to stand for simply going "All In" with regard to the team and the experience at Times Palace. No, they want fans even more "In" than before..

How involved? Early this evening on Facebook, the Bolts unveiled the "Be the Ticket campaign which is being run through the SocialThuzi app on the platform. Basically, the team is looking for photos of decked-out fans to be placed upon game tickets for the 2011-12 season:

Upload a photo of 1-2 fans in Tampa Bay Lightning apparel and your photo may be selected to be on a game ticket during the 2011-12 NHL regular season

The page notes the need for uploaded photos to be in gif or jpg format, and contain only 1 or 2 fans. No group shots. No mobile phone uploads either. See the page for more details.

While it's a great idea and a way to get the base of fans riled up about the Lightning during the downtime of the summer, the drawback is an App on Facebook that wants permission to send you emails and to post content on your Facebook wall. If you have paranoia about Apps taking over your Facebook profile, that might stop you from submitting to this contest. But beyond that, how cool would it be to appear on a game day ticket to a Lightning game??